Combined degassing and floatation tank

ABSTRACT

A combined degassing and flotation tank for separation of a water influent containing considerable amounts of oil and gas. A rotational flow is created in the tank which forces the lighter components such as oil and gas droplets towards an inner concentric cylindrical wall where they coalesce and rise to the surface of the liquid and are removed via the outlet. The heavier parts are forced down where the heavy particles sink to the lower part where they can be removed as a sludge. The water is discharged via an outlet in the lower part of the tank. The combined degassing and flotation tank is particular suited for use in oil production at sea for removal of oil and gases from water streams before the water is returned to the sea.

This is a divisional application of patent application U.S. Ser. No.11/512,196 filed Aug. 30, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,534,354, which is adivisional application of U.S. Ser. No. 10/363,127 filed Jul. 23, 2003,now U.S. Pat. No. 7,144,503, which is a 371 of PCT/IB01/01878 filed Oct.9, 2001, the priority of which is hereby claimed.

This is a divisional application of co-pending patent application U.S.Ser. No. 11/512,196 filed Aug. 30, 2006, which is a 371 ofPCT/IB01/01878 filed Oct. 9, 2001, the priority of which is herebyclaimed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to separation of a mixture comprisingwater, a fluid not miscible with water and having a lower density thanwater, and a gas into these constituents.

In particular the present invention relates to a combined degassing andflotation tank, which is particularly suited for use in separationprocesses where a water phase containing oil and gas is separated intothese constituents.

The invention is applicable within a broad range of industriescomprising the petroleum industry, including oil exploration andproduction, refining, transport, storage, cleaning of tanks and/orequipment etc.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In the oil industry the production of crude oil involves pumping amixture of oil, gas and water from subterranean reservoirs. At thewell-head a initial separation usually takes place, and the crude oilstill containing some gas and water is treated in one or more separatorsto remove more water and gas before the crude oil is ready for refining.

At offshore oil production the water phase coming from the separation atthe well-head or subsequent separators is usually discharged into thesea after a cleansing that involves the partial removal of gas, oil,chemicals and other impurities. Today this cleansing is accomplishedusing large equipment such as oil/gas separators, flotation tanks, hydrocyclones and degassing tanks occupying a substantial space at theproduction platforms.

With aging of the oil fields, one often finds that the volume of wateraccompanying the oil becomes much larger and consequently the capacityfor water treatment often needs to be increased to treat the increasingamounts of water.

Further, there is a general concern of the pollution caused by oilproduction at sea, particularly when the oil production takes place inareas that are considered to be environmentally fragile, such as arcticareas or fishing areas. In the oil industry there is a fear that ademand for a significantly lower limit for the outlet of oil would makeoil production from a number of the known reservoirs to be economicallyunfeasible if one has to rely on the equipment used at present. Thusgreat efforts have been made by industry and authorities to find ways toreduce the outlet of oil during oil production at affordable prices.

On oil production platforms intended for operation at sea, very limitedspace is usually available. Therefore there are very strict constraintson the space available for installation of new equipment that may beneeded in order to handle increasing amounts of water, in particular ifone should honor the rising concerns for the environment and reduce thepollution. An even stricter constraint on space may be encountered ifone considers the establishment of oil production at the sea bed level.

In the prior art a number of oil-gas-water separators are known. In U.S.Pat. No. 4,424,068 a separator and a method for separating a mixture ofoil, gas and water, such as may be received from an oil well, isdescribed. The separator is in the form of a vessel divided intoseparation chambers and provided with a number of baffles and a dynamicseparator where the incoming mixture changes direction several times.Despite the fact that this separator has been known for several years itseems not to have been widely used. Further as the separator comprisesseveral chambers and many parts, the maintenance will be time consumingwhich may lead to costly stop of oil production.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,833 describes a separator comprising one sectorcontaining numerous plates arranged horizontally and parallel in orderto confer coalescence of small oil drops to larger oil drops, and asecond sector containing numerous plates arranged vertically andparallel in order to let the formed larger oil drops rise to the topwhere they form an oil layer which is collected. As the separatorcontains a number of narrow passages between the parallel plates, thesepassages are susceptible to clogging by solids contained in the incomingflow, which may lead to the need to stop for cleaning.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,203 describes a separator containing a number ofconically formed screens on the surface of which small oil dropletscoalesce to larger oil drops which rise to the top of the separatorwhere they can be collected as an oil phase.

WO 99/20873 describes a sand trap that may be placed on an oil well inorder to remove heavier particles such as sand before further processingof the crude oil. The device has a mouth towards a relatively narrowpart of a tank with a spatial connection towards a relatively widenedpart of the tank where sand and heavy particles precipitate.

Despite the number of known oil-gas-water separators there is still aneed for an improved oil-gas-water separator with a better separation ofthe phases, which does not need a large space, which can be continuouslyoperated with low requirement for maintenance and which can bemanufactured and operated at moderate price.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has now been found that these needs may be fulfilled by using acombined degassing and flotation tank including an essentiallycylindrical vertical tank 1, a tangentially arranged inlet 2, at leastone outlet 3 for gas and oil placed in the upper part of the tank, anoutlet 4 for water placed in the lower part of the tank and an innerconcentric cylindrical wall forming a flotation and degassing zonebetween the inner concentric wall and the wall of the tank in the upperpart of the tank.

It has turned out that the combined degassing and flotation tankaccording to the present invention can perform the desired separation ofan oil/gas phase from a water-phase with a surprisingly high efficiency.In use for water treatment in oil production, remaining oil and gas canbe removed from the outgoing water phase providing an effluent with avery low content of hydrocarbons simultaneously with the removal of sandand other particulate materials. Further, as the throughput of the tankis very high, the space requirement is very modest in relation to theamount of treated water.

In one preferred embodiment the inner concentric cylindrical wall isformed as an inner cylinder placed in the upper part of the tank leavingan open space between the cylinder and the top of the tank, and furtherincluding an inlet guide vane 11 placed between the tank 1 and the innercylinder 10 leaving an open space between the inner cylinder 10 and theinlet guide vane 11, and a structure for establishing calm streamingaround the outlet 4 for water.

In another preferred embodiment, the combined degassing and flotationtank according to the present invention includes an essentiallycylindrical vertical tank 1, a tangentially arranged inlet 2, an outlet3 for gas and oil placed in the upper part of the tank, an outlet 4 forwater placed essentially in the center of the bottom, an essentiallyconcentrically arranged vertical first baffle 5 extending from the topof the tank leaving a passage for water in the lower part of the tankand a passage for gas in the upper part of the tank and an essentiallyconcentric, cylindrical vertical inner baffle 6 of a smaller diameterthan the first baffle 5 and extending from the bottom of the tankleaving a passage in the top portion of the tank.

In another preferred embodiment a filtration unit, such as a unit of theadsorption filter type, is connected to the outlet of the combineddegassing and flotation tank, which embodiment leads to a very efficientand high removal of hydrocarbons from the water.

The combined degassing and flotation tank according to the invention isparticularly suited for treating the water phase originating from thewell-head or from subsequent separators before the water phase isdischarged to the sea at offshore oil production plants.

Thus, the use of the combined degassing and flotation tank in oilproduction forms another preferred aspect of the present invention.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, itshould be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. is a schematic section through a combined degassing andflotation tank according to the present invention.

FIG. 2. is a schematic section through a combined degassing andflotation tank according to the present invention provided with acentrally placed screen 7 and an outlet for sludge 8, showing the flowin the tank.

FIG. 3. is a schematic section through a combined degassing andflotation tank according to the present invention where an innercylinder 10 is placed essentially in the upper part of the tank, leavingan open space between the cylinder and the top of the tank, andextending approximately ⅔ down into the tank. The tank is furtherprovided with an inlet guide vane 11 and a horizontal circular plate 12is placed in the lower part of the tank, leaving an open space betweenthe plate and the wall of the tank.

FIG. 4. is a graph associated with the experiment indicated in the firstexample showing the efficiency of the combined degassing and flotationtank according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

The invention is based on the recognition that flotation of oil drops issignificantly facilitated by the simultaneously rising of gas bubbles.Further, as the incoming fluid in the tank according to the presentinvention is conducted into an upwards spiralling movement, the rotationcauses the lighter constituents such as oil drops and gas bubbles to beforced towards the center of the tank until the inner concentriccylindrical wall is met where oil bubbles and gas bubbles will coalesceand rise due to their lower density than the surrounding water.

Simultaneously sand and other heavy particles that may be entrained bythe inlet mixture are forced towards the wall of the tank 1 and fall tothe bottom.

Thus according to the invention a flotation and degassing zone is formedin the space between the tank and the inner concentric cylindrical wallin the area from the inlet and upward.

The inlet for water is arranged essentially tangentially in order toprovide a rotational movement of the water in the tank.

An inlet guide vane 11 may be provided in connection to the inlet 2 forcontaminated water. In this connection, an inlet guide vane is a vanearranged on the wall of the tank in order to guide the incoming waterinto an upward spiralling flow. The inlet guide vane may be short orlong and extending from 30-330° of the circumference of the tank,preferred 90-300°, more preferred 180-300°, and most preferred around270°. The inlet guide vane is placed so that an open space is foundbetween the vane 11 and the inner concentric cylindrical wall.

The incoming water is let along the vane until the end of the vane wherethe water continues in a fan-like pattern, with a part of the waterbeing “recirculated” in another round along the vane while the remainderof the water escapes the circulation. The recirculating fraction is to alarge extent determined by the inclination of the vane. By experimentsit has been determined that a suitable inclination for the vane is inthe range of 5-15°, more preferred 5-10° and most preferredapproximately 7°. At this inclination, a suitable recirculated fractionis obtained without unduly obstructing the flow.

The term “in connection to the inlet” is intended to mean that the inletguide vane is arranged so the vane meets the incoming water and guidesthe incoming water into an upwards spiralling flow.

The outlet for water is placed in the lower part of the tank. It ispreferred to place the outlet in a location where the water is streamingcalmly in order to ensure that no oil or gas droplets are entrainedbecause of high streaming velocity. A structure for establishing calmstreaming around the outlet may be provided in order avoid entrainmentof oil drops by the rapid water stream. This structure may be designedas a horizontal circular plate leaving an open space between the plateand the tank if the outlet is placed essentially in the center of thebottom, or it may be designed as a downward open ring providing shelterfor the outlet if the outlet is placed as one or more outlets in thelower part of the side of the tank.

Depending on the location of the outlet the solid material falling intothe bottom of the tank may form a sludge. The deposition of sludge andsolid material in the lower part of the tank is disadvantageous as theseparating capacity of the tank may be lowered.

If the outlet for water 4 is placed at the lowest point of the tank, thefalling solid material will mainly be entrained by the water streamingout and thus removed, provided that the tank is not provided with anybaffles extending from the bottom. If the outlet for water is placed ina location that allows deposition of sludge, it is preferred to providethe tank with an outlet 8 for sludge. The outlet for sludge may bedesigned for continuous or discontinuous removal of sludge.

One or more outlets for oil and gas may be provided. If more than oneoutlet for oil and gas is provided one of these outlets may serve as anoutlet for gas whereas another may serve as an outlet for oil.

In connection with the present invention the term“essentially-cylindrical” means that the tank is substantially circularand the top and bottom of the tank is plane or curved. In use the tankis placed so that the axis of the cylinder is essentially vertical.

In one embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 3, the combinedflotation and degassing tank is provided with an inner cylinder 10placed in the upper part of the tank leaving an open space between thecylinder and the top of the tank, and further comprising an inlet guidevane 11 placed between the tank 1 and the inner cylinder 10 leaving anopen space between the inlet guide vane and the inner cylinder and ahorizontal circular plate 12 leaving a passage for water between theplate and the tank.

The inner cylinder 10 is arranged so that passage of oil, gas and wateris allowed over the top of the cylinder. The cylinder may extendapproximately ½-¾ down into the tank, preferably approximately ⅔ downthe tank.

The ratio of the diameter of the inner cylinder to the tank may beselected between wide limits so that the passage of water is notlimited. Preferably this ratio is selected between 0.3 to 0.75, morepreferred 0.4-0.6 and most preferred approximately 0.5.

In another embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a tank 1 is providedwith a inlet 2 placed in the lower part of the tank. The inlet 2 isarranged tangentially, which causes the incoming water to rotate in thetank as illustrated in FIG. 2. This rotation creates a centrifugal forcewhich forces the lighter oil drops towards a baffle 5, where theycoalesce forming larger drops that eventually rise and are gathered onthe top of the liquid between the tank wall and the first baffle 5. Herethe oil is removed via an outlet 3 for oil and gas.

The water is forced down under the first baffle 5 and up between thefirst baffle and the outlet 4 and/or the inner baffle 6. The water risesto a certain level, and leaves the tank via the outlet 4.

The baffles are formed essentially as cylinders open in one end and withthe other end closed by the top or the bottom of the tank.

The first baffle 5 extends from the top of the tank and may be placedforming a gap between the first baffle 5 and the top of the tank. Thefirst baffle 5 may be formed having a uniform diameter along the totalheight of the baffle, or it may be formed having a larger diameter inthe lower end in order to provide a maximal rotational speed of theliquid in the inlet zone.

The inner baffle 6 extends from the bottom of the tank and is in oneembodiment formed by an extension of the water outlet 4. In the combineddegassing and flotation tank according to the invention, the innerbaffle 6 provides a function as an overflow for the tank determining thewater level of the tank. The inner baffle 6 may be formed by the outletpipe 4 extended to the desired water level.

It is preferred that the water level is predetermined to the same levelas the outlet for oil and gas 3 in order to obtain a continuous removalof oil and gas from the tank avoiding accumulations which may lead toreduced capacity for separation.

Between the first baffle 5 and the inner baffle 6 may be insertedfurther baffles, which preferably are arranged extending alternativelyfrom the top and the bottom of the tank. Such baffles will force thewater to make extra travels up and down the tank, which may allow moregas to escape from the water phase.

Each baffle is arranged substantially concentrically with the tank, andshould be designed to allow passage of gas in the upper end.

The tank is operated at low pressure in order to let the gas escape thewater phase. By low pressure is meant a pressure below 10 bar, such asless than 5 bar or even at atmospheric pressure. By such a low pressuremost of the gas will form bubbles in the zone around the inlet (inletzone) and will as the oil drops be forced to the first baffle 5 wherethey rise to the top of the tank where the gas leaves via the outlet foroil and gas.

The formation and rise of gas bubbles in the inlet zone further mimicsthe effects created in traditional flotation tanks where the rise ofbubbles of added air leads to an enhancement of the separation of oilfrom the mixture. It is believed that bubble formation and thesubsequent rise of the formed bubbles in the inlet zone of the combineddegassing and flotation tank according to the invention contributes tothe surprisingly high separation efficiency observed.

Due to the beneficial effect of the rising gas bubbles it can be usefulto inject additional gas in the contaminated water before entering intothe combined degassing and flotation tank, if the amount of gas in thewater is low. It is within the skills of the person skilled in the artto determine the optimal amount of gas in a given contaminated watersource and to determine if injection of gas may be advantageous in orderto obtain a desired cleansing.

The combined degassing and flotation tank may be provided with a screento remove fine particles such as asphaltenes, from the effluent. Thescreen may be placed integrally in the tank as a central cylindricalscreen 7 forming a tube around the outlet 4, it may be placed directlymounted to the outlet or as a separate unit outside the tank connectedto the outlet.

In one embodiment the inner baffle 6 is formed by the screen 7, in whichcase the water level is determined by the flow rate through the screen7.

The screen is made as conventional screens using known materials anddesigns for screens, as would be known to the person skilled in the art.

In the case of a combined degassing and flotation tank equipped with ainner baffle 6 and a central cylindrical screen 7, the tank isconveniently provided with a outlet for removal of material retained bythe screen (not shown in the figures) placed in the bottom next to theoutlet 4 for the effluent.

The person skilled in the art will appreciate that the combineddegassing and flotation tank according to the invention may be used for2, 3 or 4 phase separations where the phases may be selected from:water, oil, gas and solid materials, where at least one of the phases isliquid under the condition of operation.

The dimensions of the combined degassing and flotation tank may beselected depending on the amounts of water intended to be treated. Inoperation it has been found that the residence time in the tank for aliquid to be treated may be selected from between 5 and 300 seconds,preferably 5-150 seconds, more preferred 10-60 seconds, even morepreferred 10-40 seconds. A particular preferred residence time is about20 seconds.

For the combined degassing and flotation tank according to theinvention, an efficient flotation volume may be calculated as the volumeof the space bounded by the tank 1 and the height of the liquid in thetank. Based on the residence time the capacity of the tank may becalculated e.g. a tank with a efficient flotation volume of 1 m³ and aresidence time for the liquid of 20 seconds has a capacity of 180 m³ perhour.

The ratio of height to diameter of the tank can be selected within widelimits preferably in the range of 1:1 to 4:1 and more preferred from 1:1to 2:1.

It is within the skills of the person skilled in the art to selectmaterials used for the construction of the tank based on the actualconditions for the intended use, such as the amounts of liquid to betreated, the composition of the liquid, the selected pressure, thetemperature of the liquid and the presence of possible corrosivechemicals in any of the phases of the mixture.

In the way the combined degassing and flotation tank is formed, allsurfaces are vertical or at least have a steep inclination or aresubjected to a rapid flow, which prevents deposit of solids, with theexceptions of the surfaces in the sectors intended for collection ofparticulate material and sludge, which sectors also preferably haveoutlets for removal of these materials. Further, no narrow passages arepresent in the tank. Consequently there is no place in the combineddegassing and flotation tank according to the invention, which issusceptible to clogging by solid materials. Therefore the combineddegassing and flotation tank may be operated continuously without, oronly with a minimal need for, maintenance. The necessary maintenance,such as replacement of a cylindrical screen if so provided, can easilybe performed from the top of the tank, which preferably is constructedto be removable. Thus the combined degassing and flotation tankaccording to the invention has a remarkable robustness i.e. it can berun for long periods without interruptions, and the few stops that maybe required for maintenance can be made short.

The high capacity combined with the small occupied space and therobustness of the combined degassing and flotation tank according to theinvention makes it particularly suited for use at off-shore oil plantssuch as oil production platforms. Further it is also well suited for usein oil production in plants located on the sea bed because, at such alocation, the constraints on space may be even stricter than ontraditional oil production platforms and the capacity for maintenancemay be lower.

Additives such as flocculants may also be added to the water beforeentering into the combined degassing and flotation tank according to theinvention in order to improve the cleaning efficiency.

In use the combined degassing and flotation tank according to theinvention routinely reduces the oil content of an oil/water mixture to20 mg/l or less starting from several hundred mg/l e.g. 200-800 mg/l.

Full-scale tests (more that 150 m³/h) have shown that the oil contentcan be lowered from several thousand ppm down to approximately 10 ppmand leave the water essentially free of gas.

In a preferred embodiment the combined degassing and flotation tank isused in combination with a filtration unit, preferably of theadsorption/absorption type, which filtration unit may further reduce theoil content of the effluent water. A particularly suited filtration unitfor such a combination is the filtration unit disclosed in the EuropeanPatent application No. 00610080.4. Starting from an oil/gas/watermixture containing 400-800 mg hydrocarbons per liter, a reduction ofhydrocarbon content to less than 20 mg/l after the combined degassingand flotation tank and a further reduction to 5 mg/l or less after thefiltration unit can routinely be obtained, while high throughput ismaintained.

Even though the combined degassing and flotation tank has been describedmainly with respect to uses in oil production, the invention is notlimited to such uses but can be used within a broad range of industrieswhere separations of a liquid mixture of water, a liquid insoluble inwater and a gas takes place.

Now the invention is described by an example, which should not beregarded as limiting for the invention.

EXAMPLES Example 1

A combined degassing and flotation tank corresponding to FIG. 2, havinga diameter of 500 mm and a height of 1200 mm and an efficient flotationvolume of 125 liter, was tested on water phase effluent from a secondstep oil separator from a commercial oil production platform. The samplewater contained varying amounts of oil and gas in the range equivalentto approximately 50-200 mg hydrocarbon per liter. The intake variedbetween 1.8 and 9.5 m³/h.

The output water contained approximately 20 mg hydrocarbon per liter orless and, during most of the experiments, less than 20 mg/l. Theefficiency of cleaning calculated as percentage hydrocarbon removed wasbetween 80 and 90% during most of the experiment.

The actual data is shown in FIG. 4, which is a graph showing theconcentrations of hydrocarbons in the inlet and the effluent stream ofthe combined degassing and flotation tank measured at regular intervalsduring the experiment.

Example 2

A combined degassing and flotation tank was designed essentially asdepicted in FIG. 3 having the following dimensions, with the innercylinder extending approximately ⅔ down into the tank:

Height 2530 mm Diameter of tank 1130 mm Diameter of inner cylinder appx.500 mm

This combined degassing and flotation tank was run in a full scale withan inlet of 150 m³/h.

The plant was operated continuously without breaks for more than 6months with an inlet of water contaminated with approximately 200-600ppm hydrocarbonaceous oil and gas and an outlet containing 5-10 ppm.This study confirms the high throughput with high cleansing efficiencyessentially without any need for intermittent breaks for maintenance.

The invention being thus described, it will be apparent that the samemay be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be recognized by one skilled in the art areintended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A combined degassing and flotation tankcomprising an essentially cylindrical vertical tank having a top and abottom, a tangentially arranged inlet, an outlet for gas and oil placedin an upper part of the tank, an outlet for water placed essentially ina center of the bottom, and at least one essentially concentricallyarranged vertical first baffle extending from the top of the tankleaving a passage for water in a lower part of the tank and a passagefor gas in the upper part of the tank, and at least one essentiallyconcentric, cylindrical vertical baffle of smaller essentiallyconcentric, cylindrical vertical baffle of smaller diameter than saidfirst baffle extending from the bottom of the tank leaving a passage inthe upper part of the tank, said cylindrical vertical baffle of smallerdiameter being formed by a vertical cylindrical screen.
 2. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 1, further comprising anoutlet for solid material retained by the screen.
 3. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 1, further comprising anoutlet for sludge arranged in the lower part of the tank.
 4. Thecombined degassing and flotation tank according to claim 1, wherein thetank is adapted for use in an oil production at sea.
 5. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 4, wherein the oilproduction is at sea bed level.
 6. The combined degassing and flotationtank according to claim 1, wherein the tank is adapted for use in an oilproduction from an aged oil field.
 7. The combined degassing andflotation tank according to claim 1, wherein the tank is adapted for usein an oil production in an environmentally fragile area.
 8. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 6, wherein the oilproduction is at sea.
 9. The combined degassing and flotation tankaccording to claim 1, wherein the tank is in an oil production in anenvironmentally fragile area.
 10. A combined degassing and flotationtank comprising an essentially cylindrical vertical tank having a topand a bottom, a tangentially arranged inlet, an outlet for gas and oilplaced in an upper part of the tank, an outlet for water placedessentially in a center of the bottom, and at least one essentiallyconcentrically arranged vertical first baffle extending from the top ofthe tank leaving a passage for water in a lower part of the tank and apassage for gas in the upper part of the tank, at least one essentiallyconcentric, cylindrical vertical second baffle of smaller diameter thansaid first baffle extending from the bottom of the tank leaving apassage in the upper part of the tank, and a central cylindrical screenof smaller diameter than said second baffle.
 11. The combined degassingand flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein the second baffleforms an extension of the outlet for water.
 12. The combined degassingand flotation tank according to claim 11, wherein the centralcylindrical screen forms a tube around said outlet.
 13. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein the tank isadapted for use in an oil production in an aged oil field.
 14. Thecombined degassing and flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein thetank is adapted for use in an aged oil field at sea.
 15. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein the tank isadapted for use in an oil production at sea.
 16. The combined degassingand flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein the tank is adaptedfor use in an oil production at sea bed level.
 17. The combineddegassing and flotation tank according to claim 10, wherein the tank isadapted for use in an oil production in an environmentally fragile area.